Stampin' Up! ~ From Land to Sea in Watercolor

I'm really excited to post today's card!  A few weeks ago it was my sister and brother-in-law's 20th anniversary so I wanted to make something special for them.  They do like the outdoors, not sure if they like the beach and sand though! ;)  But I have to tell you I had a lot of fun creating this card that was inspired by Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday's sketch challenge #276.  There is an optional theme that I didn't do this time around, but it's polka dots!  If it was stripes I'd be all in! :)

As you can see by the sketch I chose to turn my card 90 degrees to the left.  I do that every now and then...keeps things interesting (or helps me create a card instead of wondering what I'm going to do since nothing is popping into my mind!). Make sure you check out the other great cards created by the design team for this sketch HERE.  As always...if you get a chance to play along we'd love to see what you create!

I'll tell you a little bit about how I created it down below, but first here are the colors I used to created this "painting"...

Cherry Cobbler

So Saffron

Pear Pizzazz

Old Olive

Mossy Meadow

Island Indigo

Marina Mist

Wisteria Wonder

Smoky Slate

Crumb Cake

Basic Black

To create this card I started with watercolor paper cut at about 3-1/2" x  3-1/2".  I used masking tape to cover about 1/4" all the way around the paper since I wanted a framed look on this card.  Note:  I always clean my aqua painter before using the next color unless I want them blended together.  I won't be writing that every time I switch colors. :)  Using my aqua painter I wet the top 2/3 of my paper and added Marina Mist and a touch of Island Indigo to the top left corner and let it bleed and blend.  I then added So Saffron to the rest of the watercolor paper where it was wet, but left a bit of a space between the blue and yellow...I didn't want a green sky!  Then I quickly added a touch of Wisteria Wonder between the blue and yellow and at the bottom of the horizon.  While that was drying I inked up the light house from the stamp set From Land to Sea.  I inked the top and just a touch of the bottom with a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker.  Then using a Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker I colored the more pronounced stripes on the lighthouse.  The last color I used was Smoky Slate and colored in between the red and at the very bottom under the black, but I didn't go all the way to the bottom.  I knew I was going to cover that part anyway with something so I didn't want it on at all because I'd have to cover it.  Once the stamp was inked I huffed on it a few times and stamped it where I wanted it on the picture.  Using my aqua painter I carefully wet all of the Cherry Cobbler on the lighthouse.  Then I did the top carefully so you can still see some of the detail, but not all of it.  Next I blended the smoky slate in between the red pulling from the outside in on each side.  The last thing I blended was the bottom of the lighthouse.  The sky and lighthouse were the simple parts for me!  Then I was stumped.  I can't visualize what I want to paint at all so I pulled up a lot of other paintings to get an idea of what I wanted to do.  I just decided to add some green to fill in for small bushes or grass.  First I wet the horizon area and a little bit below it, but made sure it wasn't too wet.  Then I started dabbing Pear Pizzazz all over and let it dry a little.  Before it was completely dry I added Old Olive so it would bleed and blend a little, but not too much.  I did the same thing with my last color Mossy Meadow.  Each time I added them I made sure I did less of each color so I didn't lose the different tones.  Painting a beach and water just does not work for me, but I took a stab at it any way.  I wet the rest of the paper below the grass, then I added a touch of Crumb Cake for sand, then quickly added Marina Mist and a good amount of Island Indigo.  After the sand and water were dry I added more blue that was a mixture of Marina Mist and Island Indigo here and there.  I'm glad I did because I thought it looked better that way!  Once it was dry I carefully took the tape off, then finished assembling the card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

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Supplies used on this card:

Watercolor paper from local craft store & masking tape